Brody's Notes... Moscow Mayor Orders Closure Of Popular Gay Night Club

By Brody Levesque (Washington DC) Oct 14 | Moscow Mayor Yuri Luzkhov has ordered the closure of a popular Moscow Gay night club  by November 15th for reasons of "immorality." This is not the first time that the small but vibrant LGBT community in the Russian capital has been targeted by the mayor. Requests to hold a gay pride march in Moscow have been rejected for years. Mayor Luzkhov has previously described such parades as "satanic".

Mayor Yuri Luzkhov * Photo by DW-WORLD.DE Deutsche Welle

Project GayRussia, a LGBT equality rights organisation and member of the Brussels based IGLA-Europe, immediately denounced Mayor Luzkhov's order and organised a press conference "Stars Against Homophobia" in Moscow.

Nikolai Alexeyev, spokesperson for Project GayRussia and a leader within the Russian gay rights movement, describes Luzhov's order as, "a crude attempt at populism and a violation of human rights." Alexeyev also issued a plea to visiting U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to denounce endemic homophobia in the Russian Federation.

The press conference was attended by several well-known Russian singers and writers, who have performed in recent years at club Dusha i Telo, calling for an end to discrimination against gay people. Russia pop star Lolita, speaking after the event, said gay discrimination was in breach of the constitution which permits people to live their lives freely. She also said gay discrimination was a problem nationwide, not just in Moscow.

Photo By Project GayRussia

Lolita, one of the biggest names at the event, told the BBC's Russian Bureau: 

"Lots of members of the gay community have been celebrated across the world because of their professional and personal achievements. Why then in our country do we have things like 'homosexuality is a genetic deviation; gays must be cured; gays should stay at home'? We think that this is a return to fascism."

The BBC also noted in its report that Homosexuality was decriminalised in Russia in 1993 and was removed from the official list of mental illnesses in 1999. However, there is no legislation protecting people from discrimination or harassment on the basis of their sexual orientation or gender identity, and same-sex relationships are not officially recognised.